Image Processing based real time hardness measurement of an object

Abstract

To know how useful a material can be, one needs to have a thorough understanding of its properties. Hardness is one such property whose knowledge can be put into use not only in designing machine parts, but also in many day to day applications. In this project, we have studied various hardness testing methods and have modelled a method on one of these, with slight modifications so as to enable us to compare the hardness of the objects put into daily use. We have modelled an image processing based hardness measurement technique that takes co-ordinates of the indentation as the input and gives a corresponding hardness number. For this we have used the method which involves finding the length of the diagonal of the indentation, and from this we calculate the area of the indentation. The indenting force is measured by a weighing machine, at the time of application of force. The hardness number is obtained by dividing the indenting force by the indentation area. In our project work we have compared the hardness of a soap bar, dough and a cluster of chewing gum